West U transitions to Swift911 for emergency communications

Published 1:15 pm, Tuesday, February 7, 2017

SwiftReach, the parent company, is a high-speed emergency network system that alerts residents to situations ranging from severe weather to road closures, gas leaks to active shootings. Emergency Management

Residents can elect to receive messages by registering with the Swift911 web portal located on the city's website. They may also register using the Swift911 Public App which can be downloaded on their smartphones. Once registered, users may log into both the public app portal and website portal at any time to update contact information and add/remove users or contact numbers and email addresses.

Beginning Feb. 1, current users of Code RED will receive messages from the city explaining how to make the transition to the new Swift911 system.

Available methods are:

texting SWIFT911 to 99538. A link to download the public app for your smartphone will be sent. After downloading, you may register and set up your service.

log into the city's website at http://westutx.gov and click on the notifications' button. You can then register for not only the new Swift911 service but also sign up for other notifications from the city.

Taylor reminds residents that if they have numbers available on public lists, that they will receive any notices sent out on emergencies.

"Most of those numbers are land line numbers and not cell phones," he said. "We know many people have given up land lines for the ease and portability of cells. If you no longer have those numbers, you may miss out after we discontinue Code RED and move exclusively to Swift911 on March 1. If you want to begin or continue to receive emergency messages from the city of West U, you can guarantee that by registering in the new Swift911 system before March 1."